The French League has continued after a three-week break. The games of the fourth round were on the schedule this weekend.
A highlight of the round was an encounter between Pays d’Aix and Marseille. Title-holder Marseille produced a comeback to achieve an 11:8 victory.
2021/22 French League, Day 4
Pays d’Aix – Marseille 8:11 (3:1, 1:3, 3:4, 1:3)
Pays d’Aix: Giga 3, Popadic 2, Grgurevic 2, Dino 1.
Marseille: Crousillat 6, Prlainovic 3, Vernoux 1, Bouet 1.
Douai – Noisy-le-Sec 14:10 (1:2, 5:3, 3:3, 5:2)
FNC Douai: Vitrant 5, Lepoint 3, Balaz 3, Vandamme 1, Michel 1, Degaille 1.
Noisy-le-Sec: Petkovic 5, Bjorch 1, Do Carmo 1, Caumette 1, Marzouki 1, Krapic 1.
Tourcoing – Sete 18:13 (5:3, 5:4, 4:4, 4:2)
Tourcoing Lille: Gagulic 5, Krisman 5, Avena 2, Randjic 2, Vincourt 1, Rocchietta 1,Canonne 1, Kujacic 1.
Sete Natation: Furman 8, Keuning 3, Vujovic 2.
Reims – Strasbourg 7:7 (1:1, 1:3, 2:1, 3:2)
Stade de Reims: M.Popovic 2, Pesteric 1, De Bie 1, Jakhaia 1, Culina 1, Dubar 1.
Strasbourg: Buden 2, Chion 1, Bachelier 1, Missy 1, Babic 1, Vix 1.
Montpellier – Nice 13:10
Match of the 8th round
Douai – Marseille 7:9 (1:1, 2:6, 1:1, 3:1)
Marseille opened the derby in Aix-en-Provence with an early 1:0 lead. But, Pays d’Aix water polo players, encouraged by their fans, scored three goals in four minutes and entered the second quarter leading 3:1. The visitors leveled at 4:4 before the end of the first half. Still, Pays d’Aix retook control after the middle break. Midway through the third quarter, the hosts rebuilt a 2-goal lead (7:5). However, Marseille, led by Ugo Croisullat, who was outstanding, and Andrija Prlainovic, played excellently in the last 12 minutes. The visitors scored seven goals in a row and turned around a 2-goal deficit to an 11:7 lead. Pays d’Aix closed the game with a consolation goal.
Reims won the first point in the season after a thrilling 7:7 draw in the match against Strasbourg. The visiting team entered the game as a favorite and led for most of the time. But, Strasbourg’s advantage was never bigger than two goals. Before the final quarter, Strasbourg had a 5:4 advantage. In the middle of the fourth period, Reims scored two goals within 65 seconds to go in front (6:5). But, Strasbourg responded in the same way– with two goals, and regained a lead (7:6) with 01:05 minutes left on the clock. Fifty seconds before the end, Strasbourg had a man-up and a great chance to secure a win. Still, the visitors failed to score a goal and paid for that miss. Reims’ Kristijan Culina beat the buzzer. He found the net from a counter-attack in the last second of the match, and the hosts earned the first point in the season – 7:7.
Douai registered the first three points after a quite surprising victory over Noisy-le-Sec. The Parisians had a 3:1 advantage early in the second quarter. However, Douai came back and gained a slim 6:5 lead before halftime. After a balanced third period, Douai, led by Steven Vitrant secured a 14:10 victory in the last quarter. Douai proved that a very good performance in the match of 8th round against Marseille (played ten days ago) wasn’t accidental.
Tourcoing defeated Sete, although it didn’t stop Sete’s goal-getter Adam Furman, who scored eight goals. Andro Gagulic and Ivan Krisman, who netted five each, led Tourcoing to an 18:13 victory.
Montpellier climbed to 5th place thanks to a 13:10 win over Nice.
1 Marseille 5 – 15
2 Tourcoing 3 -9
3 Strasbourg 3 – 7
4 Noisy-le-Sec 3 – 6
5 Montpellier 3 – 6
6 Pays d’Aix 4 – 3
7 Douai 5 – 3
8 Sete 4 – 3
9 Nice 4 – 3
10 Reims 4 – 1
